As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up

Chapter 231 -199: The Sump Pit (Part 2)

Chapter 231 -199: The Sump Pit (Part 2)

Noon was a simple affair on the boat, all thanks to the prepared food they had bought, so Chu Mingcheng didn’t need to cook specifically. The focus for the group was still on the dinner.

It wasn’t until about two in the afternoon that they finally reached their destination.

When picking up people earlier, they had to sail upstream in the Qiantang River, which meant a slower pace. Heading out to sea was downstream, and they managed to save almost an hour compared to the morning.

Zhou Jiayi stood on the outside deck and asked while looking at the Twin Islands not far away, “Luoluo, are we having a cookout on this island today?”

“It looks like it. Look, this is the place that was shown in the photos.” Jiang Luoluo opened the photos on her phone for a comparison, nodding affirmatively.

“I wonder what we’ll catch later!” Zhou Jiayi clasped her hands together, her expression filled with a hint of anticipation, making her seem especially girlish.

In the eyes of men, she was an innocent girl; in the eyes of women, she was a scheming temptress.

However, Jiang Luoluo didn’t view her close friend in that light. She knew it was just Zhou Jiayi’s personal habit.

“Probably just fish, crabs, and the like. We’ll find out when we start pumping water.”

As the boat slowly approached the rocky area, Zhang Wei and Chen Yang got ready at the front deck.

After a short while, a slight bumping sensation came from the boat, presumably from the bow gently colliding with the rocks.

Having reached the docking point, Chu Mingcheng tried to keep the boat as steady as possible in the pilothouse while Zhang Wei and Chen Yang jointly lifted the pump and prepared to step onto the reef.

Due to the waves, the boat constantly bobbed up and down, making it difficult for them to step onto the reef.

After two attempts, they realized they couldn’t manage to lift the pump together, so Zhang Wei stepped onto the rocks first, then turned back to have Chen Yang hand him the pump separately.

But it seemed they had overestimated their strength; the pump was not light, and carrying it was easier said than done.

Chu Mingcheng had opted for a high-power pump, which weighed about sixty or seventy pounds—rharty pounds heavier than the lighter models.

With the boat continuously moving up and down, Chen Yang managed to lift it with difficulty, trying to pass it to Zhang Wei on the rocks.

Zhang Wei also had to wait for the right moment, only grabbing the machine when the waves lifted the boat high enough for him to maintain stability; otherwise, the weight of the machine might pull him down.

As a result, Chen Yang couldn’t hold on, and after a deep breath, he had to set the machine down.

The two women also wanted to help, but the space at the bow for stepping onto the rocks could only accommodate one person; no one else could assist.

Seeing this, Chu Mingcheng had no choice but to leave the pilothouse, “Luoluo, you take over the piloting; I’ll handle it here!”

Jiang Luoluo knew his strength, nodded, and immediately went into the pilothouse.

The uncontrolled boat was carried away by the waves a bit, but once she entered, she slowly steered it back.

She piloted very steadily, which somewhat surprised Chu Mingcheng.

He had thought it would take a few collisions against the rocks before Jiang Luoluo could master the skill.

Next, he asked Chen Yang to get onto the rocks as well, then he lifted the pump above his chest and handed it straight to them.

Zhou Jiayi, who had followed Jiang Luoluo into the pilothouse, nudged her sister playfully upon seeing this and teased, “Luoluo, I wasn’t sure before, but now I know for sure that you will be very happy in the future.”

Jiang Luoluo understood immediately and retorted with annoyance, “What are you talking about, are you just jealous?”

“Jealous? You want to give him to me?”

“In your dreams!”

Inside the cabin, the young girls teased each other, while outside, the young men had already moved the pump onto the rocks.

Then Chu Mingcheng also carried the specially purchased barrels of diesel up and helped move the pump next to a water pit.

They fitted the suction pipe to the pump, poured in some diesel, and then started it up.

The water from the pit was immediately sucked up by the pump and discharged elsewhere.

After the three of them had finished, they realized that Jiang Luoluo had already driven the boat near the beach where they had stopped, and the two were meddling with an inflatable boat.

Seeing this, Chu Mingcheng and the others didn’t bother with the pump anymore, letting it work on its own while they walked towards the beach along the rocks.

By the time they reached the beach, Jiang Luoluo and Zhou Jiayi had already arrived in the inflatable boat.

Moreover, they had also brought all the tools, ingredients, and condiments needed for dinner, saving Chu Mingcheng another trip later.

Two folding tables were set up side by side, laden with various barbecue ingredients.

Then Chu Mingcheng started chopping vegetables, while the rest began skewering food on bamboo sticks.

However, the preparations were not extensive, mainly because they considered that there might be plenty of seafood in the water pit, which would be the highlight of the evening.

Once everything was ready, they all headed towards the water pit.

It had only been about forty minutes, and the water level in the pit had dropped somewhat, but it would take at least another two to three hours to drain completely.

Therefore, Jiang Luoluo suggested, “Why don’t we look for some shellfish? I brought a big bottle of garlic sauce.”

“Sounds good, let’s split into groups! I’ll go with Luoluo on one side, and the rest of you are on the other side,” Chu Mingcheng suggested, pulling Jiang Luoluo away while giving Zhang Wei a meaningful glance.

Zhang Wei slightly nodded, acknowledging the signal, and after they left, he clutched his stomach, “Ah, I think I got too cold last night, my stomach hurts, I need to take care of it first.”

Without waiting for a response from Chen Yang, who wanted to say something, he just ran off.

Chen Yang gave a wry smile; aware of his friends’ good intentions, he wasn’t about to back down now, not at this stage.

Thus, he proactively took Zhou Jiayi to search for edible sea snails and engaged in casual conversation.

Chu Mingcheng glanced over at the two picking through the tide together and asked softly, “Luoluo, what does your sister think of Ah Yang?”

“It’s okay, but I didn’t tell her it was a matchmaking meeting, so she probably didn’t think in that direction,” Jiang Luoluo replied.

“Uh, you should clarify things for her though, right?” he questioned.

“I know, I’ll ask her when we go to sleep tonight.”

“That would be good.”

Chu Mingcheng nodded and looked again at Chen Yang and the others, his role as a brother keeping him deeply concerned.

Silently, the sun had made its way to the west and was already halfway below the horizon.

The group didn’t find much in the rocky area, likely because it was frequently visited, and everyone noticed signs that oysters had been pried off!

Feeling it was about time, Chu Mingcheng went to check on the tide pools.

Then he found the tide pool was about to expose its bottom, estimated in about ten more minutes they could go down and catch fish, so he sent Jiang Luoluo to call Zhou Jiayi and prepare.

As for the other guys, they had already put on rain boots and would wear gloves to simply grab the fish directly.

Would using a net be less tiring?

If you don’t grab the fish by hand in tide pools, where’s the fun in that?

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

“Damn, there’s a big fish!” Zhang Wei, with his sharp eyes, suddenly spotted a fish lying flat in a crevice.

The bottom of the pool was uneven, higher on one side where the water was completely drained, revealing the fish that tried to hide.

“Put some water in the bucket; you guys go down to the dry area and look around first,” Chu Mingcheng also saw the body of the fish and asked Zhang Wei and Chen Yang to go down first.

He stayed up top, as he would need to turn off the water pump later.

“OK!” Zhang Wei agreed, then took the bucket and climbed down with Chen Yang.

He first caught the fish he had seen, then lifted it up and laughed, “Ha, Ah Cheng, look—a marbled grouper, at least eleven or twelve pounds.”

“Huh, a marbled grouper? That’s rare, and usually they’re more common in deep sea,” Chu Mingcheng also saw it was a grouper, thinking it was an average one, but turned out to be a rare catch.

Because its production is low, it’s not generally considered a commercial fish type, but its taste is still incredibly delicious.

With the water almost completely withdrawn, Chu Mingcheng then turned off the water pump, and Jiang Luoluo and Zhou Jiayi had just returned to the area; they had both put on waterproof pants.

“You’ve come just in time. The water has been almost fully drained; just put on gloves and you can start catching. But be careful with the fishes’ dorsal fins. Make sure not to get stabbed,” he instructed.

“Can we start catching them? Then Jiayi and I will go down first, Ah Cheng, help us down,” Jiang Luoluo suggested.

“Okay.”

After helping them down, the tide pool was actually quite crowded with four people fishing.

After all, with the water drained, the fish had fled to the remaining small pool. If they searched around the dry spots, they could concentrate on fishing in the small pool.

Chu Mingcheng’s use of crab bating had worked remarkably well. Because of the movements of the people, fish would occasionally splash in the small pool, which indicated there were many.

Shortly after, he also climbed down to the tide pool to catch fish together.

As he put his hands in the water, he soon felt a fish.

The moment the fish felt touched, it started to flee, but the shallow water made its movements clearly visible.

Chu Mingcheng, with quick reflexes, pressed down in the direction the fish was fleeing and immediately caught it.

He picked it up to see it was a big black sea bream, probably weighing around four pounds.

However, the freshly caught, lively fish was very strong. As it struggled and thrashed its tail, it almost escaped from Chu Mingcheng’s grip.

Fortunately, he had a strong hold and managed to securely toss it into a nearby bucket.

But it was different for the two girls, who not only chased after the fish.

Finally managing to catch one, only to have it escape with a flick of its tail, splashing mud and water onto their faces and causing them to scream in surprise.

“Damn! Ah Cheng, come here fast…”

Just then, Zhang Wei suddenly shouted, drawing everyone’s attention at the bottom of the tide pool.

Being called out, Chu Mingcheng was naturally the first to go over, “What happened?”

“Look, what is this?” Zhang Wei pointed at a dark, clumpy thing and said.

He walked closer for a better look and immediately called everyone over, especially the two women, “Watch out for this, if you ever encounter ugly seafood like this, don’t touch it with your hands at all, just like this fish.”

“It’s a stone fish, a type of poisofish. Its dorsal fin is highly venomous.”

Jiang Luoluo and Zhou Jiayi nodded repeatedly after hearing this, decided that with such ugliness they wouldn’t rashly touch it.

Then, Chu Mingcheng used a beach fork to clamp the fish and tossed it into the bucket.

“Ah Cheng, can this fish be eaten?” Jiang Luoluo asked curiously.

“Certainly, don’t be fooled by the venomous dorsal fin; the meat is actually very delicious. You guys can try it tonight.”